The collective Pittsburgh Penguins universe is holding its breath waiting for Sidney Crosby to return from Milan and for the team to get a better understanding of the injury he suffered last Wednesday.
Interestingly, it does not sound like Crosby’s teammates have much of an idea, either. When discussing their captain, the players have sounded as curious and hopeful as fans.
“Obviously, it’s not fun (for Crosby). Even if (Team Sweden) played them, we wanted him to be in the game. Hopefully, he’s all right,” Karlsson said. “Hopefully, he can come back here, get a little bit of rest, and once he comes back, whenever that is, he’ll be right back on the horse. Which I’m sure he will be.”
If there were any clues regarding Crosby’s status in Karlsson’s comments, we surely missed them.
One would think that Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, who was Team Canada’s director of player personnel, would have a good idea, but it does not seem the information made its way across the pond.
However, the team did recall Avery Hayes Monday, and coach Dan Muse was fairly clear that Hayes’s stay is tied to Crosby’s availability.
“I think the way that we are right now, in terms of the other lines, there’s something (with Hayes) we want to see,” said Muse. “So, I think it’s also (about) him coming up right now, too. He’s been playing really well, and so we’ve got these couple of practice days, and so we’ll wait to get more information once (Crosby) gets back.”
The gut feeling here is that Crosby will need more time to get healthy. The Penguins’ March schedule is a barbed wire gauntlet of playoff teams, travel, and short turnarounds. When the games begin Thursday, the Penguins have 19 games in 34 days.
If Crosby rushes his recovery, the grind has a greater chance to hurt him, and thus harm any chance they have to make the playoffs, or severely limit what they could do in them.
1. So, what if Crosby isn’t healthy?’
The initial plan seems to be for Rickard Rakell to slide to center, putting the right-handed Avery Hayes on the left wing. That’s two players out of position on what would conceivably be something akin to a top line.
From this corner, that would seem to be less than ideal, especially with Evgeni Malkin on the wing of the second line.
Perhaps Tommy Novak could keep feeding Egor Chinakhov, perhaps even with Rakell on the left wing, while Malkin centers Rust and Hayes. Or Malkin centers Chinakhov and Rakell, with Ben Kindel between the gritty wingers.
How about this for a top nine:
Rakell-Malkin-Chinakhov
Rust-Kindel-Hayes
Mantha-Novak-Brazeau
2. Malkin?
The rub is that we still don’t know why Muse moved Malkin to the wing. The move has been increasingly successful, and there has been a growing chemistry with Chinakhov, but in the days leading up to the flip, PHN asked the question directly. Malkin brushed aside the idea and was quite obviously not a fan.
But it still happened.
When asked last month, Coach Dan Muse was non-committal, almost dismissive about the move being injury-related. If Crosby is out for any length of time, a Malkin return to center would make more sense than using Rakell. Keeping them on the same line would have the benefit of protecting Malkin; if, indeed, he does have a little trouble with faceoffs, the right-handed Rakell could take more. Or Novak.
Kindel’s zippy game would fit well with Rust and Hayes, and Novak has already proven a strong proficiency with the big wingers.
That configuration, or something like it, is not necessarily the best case scenario, but it might be the best for the Penguins if Crosby is to miss more than a couple of games.
3. Schedule Hell
After a couple of games against non-playoff-contending division rivals to end February (New Jersey, New York Rangers), the Penguins have nine of their next 10 games against stout competition that is most likely playoff-bound and Stanley Cup contenders.
They’ll face Carolina twice on the road. Vegas twice, once on the road. Colorado, Utah, and Boston on the road, and Buffalo at home.
That’s a murderer’s row of opponents, and even if Crosby is fully healthy, it would be a slobberknocker. The Penguins have been a great March team over the last two seasons, nearly erasing a nine-point playoff deficit in 2024, and had another surge that dropped their draft pick from possible top five to ninth overall in 2025 (though they got Ben Kindel at No. 11 as a pretty good “consolation” prize).
The team that could make the Penguins feel uncomfortable is not far away.
The closest team pursuing the Penguins in both the Metro Division and the wild-card race is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who won 11 of 12 into the Olympic break. With new coach Rick Bowness, GM Don Waddell feels like he found something, and Columbus is not going to be a seller at the NHL trade deadline.
Columbus, and technically, the Washington Capitals are five points behind the Penguins, but the Penguins and Columbus have three games in hand on Washington. So, until something drastic changes, the Penguins need only outrun Columbus for a playoff spot.
But if there is a pothole of Pittsburgh proportions on the Penguins’ path, the next three weeks seem to be it.
Categorized:PHN Blog
